Sales tax collections worst in recent history

...the Office of the State Comptroller recently issued a report on the sales tax collection for all counties in New York state in 2009 [and] compares 2009 to 2008 collections, and found a 5.9 decrease in collections statewide.

Sales tax-declines were experienced by 53 of the 57 counties in the report. Only four — Chatauqua, Oneida, Schuyler, and Seneca — counties experienced a growth in sales tax revenue, but the report attributes it to other factors other than economic growth, like late payments and other technical adjustments.

“Unlike other recent downturns, 2009 was the first time in recent history that there was actually a decline in county sales tax revenue — a sign of the severity of the recent recession,” the report reads. “The sales tax decline in 2009 was one of the worst on record.”

“This is yet another sign that the Great Recession is having a continuing impact on our communities across New York,” DiNapoli said in a release. “These numbers are sobering. Fortunately, many local governments have taken sometimes painful budgetary steps to stave off disaster. It’s a struggle, but all levels of government have to make every taxpayer dime count.”

The report didn’t offer much room for optimism, stating that tax collections are largely driven by two factors — personal income and employment... “Both of these factors are expected to remain weak in 2010,” the report reads.

This is the problem with having hard-core, leftist ideologues running the branches of government. Facts, logic and reason don't matter to them. Only the pursuit of more power over the electorate matters. And they will use any means necessary, including illegal legislative maneuvers, to accomplish their aims.

At the core... is a set of high-speed digital cameras mounted on the hood and trunk of a vehicle that snap pictures of license plates while passing other vehicles, even at 80 miles per hour. Photos of the plates (including the time the photo was taken and the car’s GPS coordinates) instantly pop up on a laptop computer inside the repo man’s vehicle. Optical character recognition software converts the plate numbers to text.

The process gets more technical: the plate numbers are checked against an encrypted database of delinquent cars, compiled from lenders and stored on the computer, which is refreshed continuously using a wireless link. In most cases, the license plates photographed are attached to cars with no payment problems. But when a plate on a wanted list is found, the computer screen displays further information, including the make and model, its vehicle identification number, or VIN, and the name of the lender. The data is used to confirm that the right car has been found — scofflaws sometimes swap license plates, for instance.

The plate-recognition systems are also used heavily by police. And the system resembles nothing so much as a "Big Brother"-ish system of the sort Orwell would have appreciated.

...In their short time on the market, the camera systems sold by MVTRAC, Recovery Tech and others have upended the way repo men do their jobs. Instead of visiting a long list of addresses where a car might be, repossession agents are driving through parking lots, shopping malls and neighborhoods in search of wanted vehicles...

Police departments around the country now use the plate-reading technology to identify stolen cars. Instead of manually typing plate numbers into a computer, officers on patrol can check thousands of cars against stolen car databases as they pass them on the street.

MVTRAC’s early use of the technology depended on some 8,000 fixed cameras placed in parking lots, toll plazas and other busy spots. The company has since moved to mobile cameras because they let repossession companies spot the cars and recover them more quickly.

I've been told by an industry insider that, of the 100,000 total cars on wanted lists, roughly 40,000 are luxury makes like BMW, Mercedes and Lexus.

The reason lenders are willing to pay repo fees of up to several thousand dollars per car on investigating and repossessing is that the average amount owed on a loan is $26,000. Of those fees, the firm performing the actual physical repossession can swing about $200 to $400 for each car they find.

A subscription for MVTRAC’s camera and computer system runs about $600 a month, so it only takes about two cars spotted with the system to pay for it.

The implications of a national database of automobile movements is interesting and perhaps a bit troubling. The ability to query the database for Amber Alerts and other situations involving random vehicles is on the way.

For example, a police officer notified that a kidnapping took place with the suspect reported to have been driving a blue Caprice could query the national database.

The officer could simply call up a list of all blue Caprices spotted in a specific geographic area during the time in question.

In addition, the path of a vehicle could also be deduced: a query could find all blue Caprices that were spotted moving from county A to county B over a certain period of time.

The White House and Democrats had one mission today: prepare the political class for the President's announcement, probably Wednesday, that he thinks the Senate ought to proceed with reconciliation to ****pass or modify**** a comprehensive health care bill (passed by the House or Senate first? Not sure.). But Democrats still don't agree: Kent Conrad, the budget committee chairman, says that the House must pass the extant Senate bill (with all the bad stuff in there) first; the House wants to see if the Senate has the votes for the Obama bill (with all the bad stuff taken out), and Conrad said today that reconciliation can't be used to pass #HCR.

On Fox News Sunday, Sen. Robert Menendez claimed that Senate Democrats would be able to muster 51 votes to pass the bill through reconciliation.

I want to tell you that last week I attended a conference on health care reform sponsored by La Raza. And I will tell you that what they had to say, Mark, is scarier than anything that's been said so far on the health care plan.

...someone from Menendez' office [Ed.: Sen. Robert Menendez, D-NJ] promised that he would make sure that "the useless barriers of citizenship would not be in this bill" and that he would make sure that they would use keywords like "streamline"...

...Yes [they said they would get free health care for illegal aliens], these are my notes, Mark. They actually got up and said "Latino children need health care more than whites". And then they would say things like "you must go out into your communities, use words like 'streamline', use phrases like 'all workers' and 'all families'," because they said -- and I quote -- "If the American people find out that this bill is about giving health care to non-citizens, they will rise up against it."

"If the American people find out?"

Gee, what a surprise. A Senator and a group that preaches racial superiority and divisiveness want to enact a stealth illegal immigration bill -- not dissimilar from their approach to chain migration. The bill will reward illegal immigration to the direct detriment of all American taxpayers and especially the elderly.

And Democrats are willing to pass this crap sandwich in complete violation of Senate rules -- that's according to Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), not me -- which demonstrates just how little interest the oligarchs in Washington have in representative government.

I urge you to contact members of Congress this week (Senate contact page and House Contact Page) and urge them, politely and firmly, to reject this unconstitutional maneuver that defies the will of the American people. And, if they vote for this disastrous bill, tell them they had better have a good outplacement service.

On February 24th, Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don L. Robart delivered his annual State of the City Address (PDF). The highlights are worth sharing.

One year ago today, I stood before many of you and warned of the storm clouds that were forming overhead. I spoke of the extended recession and the impact it was having on local and state budgets. I expressed concern that with payrolls being essentially locked –in, due to mandatory collective bargaining, at 3% and health care cost rising between 12 and 15%, it was only a matter of time before the economic bubble would burst. Little did I know that the imminent burst was only months away.

...as we now know, the jobs creation promise of 2009 nationally has more closely resembled a nightmare. With unemployment a year ago at 8%, it is currently over 10% and since the signing of the stimulus bill, we have lost 2.8 million jobs. These job loss figures clearly have a direct effect on state and city budgets. Cuyahoga Falls is no exception. Cities essentially rely on two forms of revenue: property taxes and income taxes. In 2009, we saw both of these revenue sources decline.

...on the income tax side, historically, the city would expect growth of 1-2% per year. In 2009, we saw our income tax decline by $504,000 over 2008. A third source of income for most cities is the interest on our reserve funds. Once again, we are seeing a significant drop in revenue. In the year 2000 for example, we realized over $2.2 million dollars in interest, and now due to significant lower interest rates, we saw the interest on our reserve drop to $547,000.

In response to these significant drops in revenue, we mandated that the nonbargaining employees accept a wage freeze along with six furlough days. Additionally where applicable, we would cease the ability to sell back vacation and sick leave. I am proud of the AFSCME union which was the first union to step forward and agree to our proposal. Our Fire union, theUWUA electric union and finally the dispatchers, followed shortly. Unfortunately, we did not get concessions from the two police unions, which necessitated the loss of three patrolmen and a community service officer. Additionally, four sergeants were reduced to patrolman status.

So what does the future hold? Obviously, much depends on the flow of the economy. If 2010 resembles 2009, cities all over the state, indeed all over the nation, will be looking for a lifeline.

In Cuyahoga Falls, we will be negotiating with all six of our public employee unions. We do not anticipate these negotiations will be easy, however, with a keen eye on fiscal responsibility, the administration will be resolute in its demands to lower expenses. And indeed, with payroll representing 75–80% of our general fund budget, the public sector unions are the obvious place to go.

Which brings up the question that I have raised in this forum in the past: Is it time to eliminate public sector unions?

The history of public sector unions goes back to 1962 when President John F. Kennedy signed executive order 10988 allowing unionization of the federal workforce. This changed everything in the American political system. President Kennedy’s order swung open the door for the unrelenting rise of the unionized public workforce in many states and cities.

And of course, 47 years ago, the American workforce landscape looked very different. As recently as 1980, there were more than twice as many private sector union members than there were public sectors. Today 51.4% of Americans 15.4 million workers are employed by the government. This is the first time in American history that there are more public sector union members than there are private. So my question is, can we the taxpayers continue to afford this expense?

The problem for the economy is that the public sector unions create a self-reinforcing cycle of higher spending and taxes. The union helps elect politicians who repay the union with more pay and benefits and dues-paying members, who in turn help to re-elect those politicians.

I recall the 2006 example of former New Jersey Governor John Corzine shouting to a rally of 10,000 public workers “We will fight for a fair contract”. Mr. Corzine was supposed to be on the other side of the bargaining table representing taxpayers, not labor.

...As we can see from the desperate economic and fiscal woes of California, New Jersey, New York and other states with dominant public unions; this has become a major problem for the U.S. economy and smaller “d” democratic governance. The agenda for American political reform needs to include the breaking of public unions' power to capture an even larger share of private income.

Congratulations to Mayor Robart. His message is one that needs to echo from cities to towns, counties to states, and all the way to the halls of the federal government.

It's time to break the public sector unions whose agenda is directly counter to that of the taxpayers.

240,000: the number of illegal immigrant sex offenders in the United States, a "conservative" estimate according to a study by the Violent Crime Institute. Over the 88-month study, illegal aliens were responsible for an estimated 960,000 violent sex crimes in the U.S.

4-10,000,000: the number of illegal aliens who crossed into the United States in 2005, bringing with them 5.6 to 11.2 million pounds of cocaine and 34.3 to 68.6 million pounds of marijuana. As many as 19,500 aliens originated in countries identified as state sponsors of terror, according to the Department of Homeland Security. This figure includes members of Hezbollah who have already entered the United States across the southwest border; and agents of Venezuela, which is providing falsified documentation for entry into the U.S. illegally.

$3,000,000,000: the approximate annual federal spending to house non-U.S. citizens in federal prisons, which represents roughly 30% of the prison population according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Most of non-citizen prison population is comprised of illegal aliens.

What are the true costs of illegal immigration to American citizens? In hard dollar terms, it's hundreds of billions -- all of which could be better used elsewhere, especially in these tough economic times.

Hundreds of Chilldren Found in Mass Grave

By Mihemed Eli Zalla 25/02/2010

Three mass graves were discovered in the sub district of Dubiz in Kirkuk. Announced the Kurdish daily news paper ASO on Sunday, Feb.21st. These graves are to be excavated by the Ministry of Anfaled and Martyrs of Kurdistan regional government in a near future.

“The graves are holding remnants of children from both Chamchamal and Garmyan areas”. Sayd Fazil Amin the head of KRG martyrs office in Kirkuk told ASO, these kids were taken into captivity during 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds.

Anfal genocide was a campaign against the Kurds in 1980s. It was aimed at the elimination of the Kurds in Iraq, by destroying and burning Kurdish villages down. Killing and burying alive the people of these villages. It costed over 200,000 lives of innocent Kurds.

The media channels have not yet been invited to publish the unearthing of these three ‘out of hundreds of’ mass graves. We will soon invite the Arabic as well as other foreign media and officially announce the discovery, added Amin.

“We were jailed in a prison in Dubiz for a while. The only thing we knew then was that of, our crime was being a Kurd. In Dubiz they separated us into men, women and children” Bafraw, an Anfal survivor told Hawler Tribune, “Amanj, my 7 year old son, before taken away was very sick, I asked if I could go with him. They [soldiers] told me, do not worry we will put an end to his sickness, I know how they did it”

Kurds know all their beloved Anfaled ones are dead somewhere in the deserts of Iraq. All they are awaiting for is the return of their remnants. As said Bafraw “Ever since then I have been waiting for him”

A group of experts from ministry of Anfaled and Martyrs are to excavate these graves soon. The graves hold remnants of 272 children and the oldest one among them is a 16 year old girl. A pregnant woman is also among them, added Amin.

Will the U.K.'s "Iraq Inquiry" include this news?

Will President Obama claim this is just a cultural misunderstanding?

Will some of the legacy media outlets in this country begin to actually report the news before they finally slip into the abyss of bankruptcy?